UC Set to Announce Appointment of New President

The University of California is expected next week to announce the appointment of a new president, seven months after UC President Richard C. Atkinson said that he would step down from the post in the fall.

The university's regents will hold a special meeting Wednesday in Oakland to vote on a single candidate who has won the recommendation of a regents' search committee, UC spokesman Michael Reese said Friday. A news conference to introduce the president is scheduled after the vote.

UC officials and members of the committee have been tight-lipped throughout the months-long search, and declined again Friday to comment on the identity of the candidate, or any specifics, including whether the recommendation would be for an interim or a permanent president.

Among the widely rumored candidates, however, are several of the system's chancellors, including UC San Diego's Robert C. Dynes, UCLA's Albert Carnesale, UC Santa Barbara's Henry T. Yang and UC Santa Cruz' M.R.C. Greenwood.

Another internal candidate who has emerged in recent months is UC Senior Vice President Bruce Darling, who has led the effort to correct management failures and other problems at the UC-run Los Alamos National Laboratory. Darling, who does not have a doctorate, has said in the past that he should not be a candidate because the university's faculty would want a president with strong academic credentials.